Leave the Leggings at Home and Let’s Dress Better When We Fly [VIDEO]

Leave the Leggings at Home and Let’s Dress Better When We Fly [VIDEO]

Leave the Leggings at Home and Let’s Dress Better When We Fly [VIDEO]

It may be the biggest non-story of the year. But folks are still kvetching about the United Airlines leggings story.

Nina put the controversy to rest yesterday when she pointed out bare facts about the leggings ban. It applied only to family members flying free on a pass.

That didn’t stop the cackling harpies on the View from jumping into this kerfuffle with inaccuracies. But of course, it’s all about body shaming! Anti-female policy! It’s interesting that Whoopi Goldberg is the voice of reason here.

Pastor Hans Fiene at the Federalist drives into the opposite lane to shame us all. We’re all guilty of being slobs on flights. And we need a little introspection here:

We Americans, you see, have developed a bad habit of dressing like slobs while flying, and it’s high time we experience some national shame over this.

Ouch. But he’s right.

Yes, the seats are cramped, the arm rests minuscule, and the pull-down trays shaky. The soft drinks and snacks are minimal, too. Why should we dress up for that?

And that’s your reward after you’ve run the TSA gauntlet. Many of us have had run-ins with some power hungry martinets there, and that includes me.

So what? writes Fiene. We’re Americans. We can face these indignities with propriety. And that means to dress like you own the tin can you just boarded:

But more importantly, shoving your sharpest duds in the face of hardship is the American way. If your ancestors dressed up for the 1918 flu pandemic and the Great Depression, you can do likewise for a four-hour flight next to an overly chatty stranger with a lack of self-awareness and an abundance of body odor.

It’s true. Americans did dress with dignity at one time, even during Depression and wartime.

Like these kids going to the movies.

Click to enlarge.

And these folks strolling down a city street, the women wearing skirts while the men have donned fedoras.

Click to enlarge.

I’m not sure that we should necessarily be wearing our best duds the next time we fly. But it seems to me that when you dress like a total slob on a flight, you’re showing not only disrespect to yourself as a person, but to your fellow travelers as well.

And then there are the flight attendants. Certainly they’ve seen it all when it comes to unruly passengers, but maybe you can be that nicely dressed passenger with the friendly demeanor who makes their thankless jobs a little less demanding. We all could use a little more congeniality these days.

Next month I’ll be flying from Kansas City to Seattle. I won’t be wearing dress clothes and pearls — my jeans will serve me well. But they’ll be my best jeans, combined with a nice jacket and some light jewelry. After all, not only do I want to present myself with dignity among the others flying with me at 30,000 feet, but I have a little grandson to see at the end of the flight. I want him to have a good impression of his “Mimi” when I arrive. That’s the most important thing of all.

Written by

Kim is a pint-sized patriot who packs some big contradictions. She is a Baby Boomer who never became a hippie, an active Republican who first registered as a Democrat (okay, it was to help a sorority sister's father in his run for sheriff), and a devout Lutheran who practices yoga. Growing up in small-town Indiana, now living in the Kansas City metro, Kim is a conservative Midwestern gal whose heart is also in the Seattle area, where her eldest daughter, son-in-law, and grandson live. Kim is a working speech pathologist who left school system employment behind to subcontract to an agency, and has never looked back. She describes her conservatism as falling in the mold of Russell Kirk's Ten Conservative Principles. Don't know what they are? Google them!

9 Comments
  • JPD says:

    Totally off topic, but……”Mimi”?? Since when are you old enough to have a grandson? We have seen your picture. Some of us are suspecting some fake news on this one.

  • Merle says:

    Those are the rules for flying on a pass. It’s up to you to know the rules – and follow them!

  • GWB says:

    combined with … some light jewelry

    Well, that might cause you some extra hassle at the security line.

    I tend to agree with both points. Yes, I hate seeing people wear pajamas and nasty clothes when they fly. But, since the TSA came into being, you’re motivated to dress for getting through that line. That means no belt, slip-on shoes (flip-flops are the slip-onniest), no jewelry or hair accouterments. And, if a stranger is going to grope me (without my permission or desire), then I don’t really see a need to bathe or groom, either. Then, of course, the airlines also haven’t been helpful.

    I still won’t dress below the level I do to go to work (which is another topic altogether). But I certainly have ZERO motivation to dress nicely for flying nowadays. Treat me like cattle, I’ll be motivated to act like cattle.

    • Kim Quade says:

      My jewelry has never caused me trouble. However a container of local BBQ rub that I was taking to my son-in-law caught the eye of an over zealous TSA agent. It was completely factory sealed, but Mr. Über TSA barked at me like I was a criminal and then proceeded to swab it for possible bomb material. Or something.

      I have since gotten a Known Traveler number, which allows me to zip through security. No shoe removal and little wait time. Got it with travel miles, too. Totally worth it.

    • GWB says:

      As to the “dressing for work”, where I worked when I first left the military (at a military facility, mind you, as a contractor), they hired a couple of young women who actually wore pajama pants (you know, the thin, flannelly, elastic-waisted pants) and flip-flops to work. They worked in a back corner, but I could tell when they went to the bathroom or out the door, because they went flip-flap-flop-flip flip-flap-flop-flip as they walked by my cubicle……….

      This is NOT just an air travel issue.

  • Brian Brandt says:

    Unfortunately most of the ‘ladies’ that go parading around in leggings . . . how should I put it . . .

    Let’s just say they don’t have butts you could crack a walnut on.

  • Arizona Resident says:

    What I find irresponsible in flying-attire: are women who wear very high-heels, or flip-flops worn by either gender.
    IMO if the plane has crash-landed, and the walkways are littered with debris and/or not easily traversed … it’s inappropriate to make others who chose to wear sensible shoes, now responsible for getting their fashionable asses off the plane.

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